


Fateful race of piggyback

by lillaseptember



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/M, First Meetings, Fluff, Meet-Cute, feat. unholy long sentences, idk man, the origins of charmer!!!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-14
Updated: 2016-07-14
Packaged: 2018-07-24 01:04:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7487295
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lillaseptember/pseuds/lillaseptember
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The literal most adorable meet cute feat. Charmer.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fateful race of piggyback

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by the [canon introduction](http://stolligaseptember.tumblr.com/post/146993132657/why-is-this-not-a-fic-already-this-is) of the volleyball goddess Caitlin Farmer, and her disastrous first meeting with the precious Chris Chow.

“Piggyback race!” 

Bitty’s head snapped up from his phone, where he had been completely captivated by one of the new recipes his mother had posted to their pinterest, by the sound of Holster’s boisterous declaration.

He and the boys were walking the frogs home to their dorms after an afternoon of them apparently having tried to study, but which had just ended up with them messing around the Haus. The occasion had also served as a much needed late afternoon walk for them all, but they apparently didn’t even make it to River Quad before Holster was up to some antics again.

“Aw, hell yeah!” Ransom exclaimed as he gracefully leapt onto Holster’s back, the two always as eerily in sync with each other.

Holster and Ransom were an inseparable duo, which meant that Bitty would most likely be paired up with one of the frogs. He looked over to the younger boys, who had walked ahead of their upperclassmen and were now turning around to see what the ruckus were all about. Dex and Nursey were a disastrous duo off the ice, so he and Chowder would have to split them up. (And on second thought, he didn’t even know if he could have been paired with Chowder to begin with?? Who would have been the rider? He was considerably taller than Bitty, but he could never have been comfortable with the idea of climbing upon his precious child’s back. Goodness gracious.)

Typing out a quick question for Twitter, he slowly started considering his options as Shitty jumped down onto the quad, walking backwards onto the square, apparently taking up the role of officiating this race.

“You’re lucky Lardo isn’t here, brah, we would have slayed all your asses _wicked_ hard.”

Staring at his blank phone screen, he looked up to inspect the two d-men in front of him. Nursey was maybe one of the clumsiest people Bitty had ever had the misfortune of meeting, but he _was_ taller than Dex and had longer legs. And while on skates he was the one with a steadier stance and greater physique.

“Whatever, Shits,” Holster retorted as he got into starting position just at the edge of quad, Ransom’s legs dangling slightly by his sides. The three of them looked over at Bitty and the frogs, clearly wondering how they would be teamed up.

He had apparently not given Twitter enough time to respond, and looking up from his phone, he hoped that he at least wouldn’t have to pay with his _life_ for his choice.

“I get Nursey!”

The aforementioned frog looked slightly taken aback at that, Dex just grinned smugly as he high-fived Chowder and they made their way next to where Ransom and Holster were standing. Nursey quickly collected himself from his initial shock, and he and Bitty fistbumped as they also made their way up to the starting line. 

He had to crouch down for Bitty to get onboard his back, and Bitty yelped slightly as he straightened into a standing position.

“You okay, man?” He inquired gently as he craned his neck to catch Bitty’s eyes.

“Just don’t drop me,” was all he pleaded as he shoved his phone into his back pocket.

“Bro,” was all Holster said as he offered up his fist to be bumped, the two d-men falling into a familiar rhythm with each other as Ransom mirrored him.

“ _Bro_.”

“We got this Dex!!” Chowder cried as he fist pumped the air feverishly, nearly choking the other boy in the process.

“ _Please_ , don’t strangle me,” the ginger lamented as he tried to ease the hold of the overly excited goalie’s hold around his neck

“The first team to make it to the bridge will be victorious. The first rule is that there are no rules, but I would recommend you all to avoid checking, for all of your well being. If not only to avoid our dear captain’s wrath,” Shitty monologued as he made his way over to the middle of the quad, inspecting the racers in front of him. Then, grinning wickedly, he raised his hand. “Ready, gentlemen? Set, go!”

Bitty screamed as Nursey leapt onto the quad, Ransom let out a battle cry that must have been heard all over campus, and Chowder laughed freely as they all dashed across the square in late autumn evening.

Nursey and Bitty actually got off to a great start. Holster and Ransom obviously pulled ahead right away, Holster’s long strides flying over the icy paving stones, but Nursey and Bitty were not far behind, even a few steps ahead of Dex and Chowder, Bitty’s teeth rattling in the cold air and by Nursey’s bouncing steps. But all of sudden all Bitty could see was Nursey, _klutzy Nursey_ , slipping on one of the many ice patches, both of them tumbling head first against the freezing stones, cracking skulls and breaking bones, and after that they fell behind fairly quickly, probably because Bitty desperately insisted that Nursey “ _Slow down!_ ”

Ransom and Holster seemed to be sprinting towards an easy victory, Ransom still hollering gleefully, but after some unintelligible cheer of encouragement from Chowder, Dex seemed to find that extra gear, and they were actually slowly closing in. Bitty and Nursey were loitering behind them all, and Nursey was just in the middle of explaining that “in a race, the point is kind of going the _fastest_ Bitty,” jogging softly as Bitty clung on for dear life when it happened.

Just as they were about to step up onto the sidewalk leading up to the finish line at the foot of the bridge, Dex tripped and fell.

Head first into the group of volleyball players that stood gathered just on the side of River street.

Chowder tumbled over Dex’s head, downright _flying_ into the assembly of young women, while Dex himself fell flat on his face, toppling over almost all of the girls in their wake. For a few moments, complete mayhem reigned, Shitty laughed his entire ass off somewhere in the distance, Ransom and Holster claimed their victory by the bridge, chest bumping in celebration as Nursey and Bitty slowed down by the messy pile of people, tall volleyball players groaning and complaining while Dex cursed loudly.

The taller frog unsteadily got back up on his feet again, clutching at his slightly bleeding split lip while sheepishly apologizing to the girl he had accidentally headbutted on his way down, his whole face on fire, all the way up to the tip of his ears. But all eyes were on Chowder, as he continuously and endlessly apologized to the pretty brunette he had ended up in a pile of leaves together with.

“Are you okay???” He asked frantically, brushing hair and leaves out of his face.

“I’m fine,” she assured with a laugh pulling at the corners of her mouth as she blew her bangs out of her eyes.

“Are you sure?”

“I’m _completely_ fine.”

“...are you _sure_ you’re okay?”

“I’m _fine_ , I promise, it’s no big deal,” she guaranteed with a huge grin finally breaking out on her face as she gracefully got up, a few leaves falling out of her hair as she did, reaching down to offer him help up. “Here, come on, let me…”

Chowder gratefully accepted her help, and she easily pulled him up, her grip steady and firm. Their hands awkwardly lingered by each other as Chowder was standing up straight on his own again, and Bitty had to conceal a squeal of endearment, but was thankfully saved by a furious flush that abruptly blossomed across the goalie’s cheeks, and he ducked his head in shame.

“I am _so_ sorry!” He squeaked out as he pitifully shuffled his feet, and Bitty could have sworn he had heard what was the beginning of tears at the back of his voice.

“It’s fine, I promi...” She repeated once again, her grin faltering slightly as Chowder refused to meet her eyes again, and Bitty had half a mind to step in to help these fumbling children, but was thankfully once again interrupted.

“Chowder, come on!” Holster shouted from by the bridge, waving them all over. Ransom inspected them all with a knowing look, Shitty having sobered up and joined them, Dex already halfway there.

“I, should go, um, and I’m so sorry!” He managed to stutter out, quickly turning around and starting to powerwalk away, the blush high on his cheeks, leaving the poor girl all but dumbstruck.

“It’s okay, I…” She managed to mumble out, before seemingly shaking out of it and calling out a soft; “Hey!” 

Chowder freezed in his place before slowly turning around to meet her again, looking so small and bashful that Bitty’s heart ached. 

“I like your shirt!”

The comment earned her a few elbows to her side, but she brushed them off as she just kept looking at Chowder. The comment also startled Chowder, quickly looking down at his standard Shark’s hoodie before realizing what was going on, pulling that face that Bitty could only describe was the equivalent of “!!!”, stars twinkling in his eyes and pretty much vibrating out of his shoes out of excitement. But he somehow managed to collect himself and find some of his courage, his back straightening as he smiled carefully at her again.

“I’m Chris Chow, and I am so, _so_ sorry for my stupid friend running into you all.”

That provoked a weak protest from Dex somewhere in the background, but everyone was too busy watching this final exchange to notice.

“Caitlin Farmer, and I’m sorry for standing in your way.” 

She smiled brightly, and Bitty had time to note that she had a _really_ pretty smile before he also had to turn around to join the rest of their rambunctious teammates, Chowder looking all but gobsmocked.

He waved at her awkwardly, which she returned just as awkwardly, before finally turning around to walk away, his cheeks on fire.

* * *

Bitty pulled out his phone again as soon as it was socially acceptable. (...Okay. As soon as he _told_ himself was socially acceptable.) Quickly typing out the incident for Twitter to take part of, he pulled up Facebook as they joined the other boys at the foot of the bridge. He had half expected Chowder to be chattering away during the entity of the short walk, but he had just been staring off into space with a serene expression.

And Bitty had been too gracious to comment it.

But the rest of the boys weren’t.

“What happened, bro?” Holster asked as he slung an arm around the young goalie’s shoulders, a knowing grin already plastered on his face. Bitty was just about to intervene when Chowdered answered with the most star-struck look on his face.

“I’ve never met someone so beautiful my entire life.”

An uproar of manly “oaaaaaaaaah!!!”s erupted from them all as they slowly started on their way again, Holster roughhousing him, and Bitty just looked up at him fondly while a recording of “Oh, my sweet child” played on repeat in his head as the relentless chirping started.

He let them butt heads for a little while, _a lil’ chirpin’ never hurt nobody,_ which allowed him to scroll down the Facebook profile he had finally tracked down in peace. But what he eventually found was too good for him to keep quiet any longer.

“Chowder, she’s also a Shark’s fan,” he said as he looked up from his phone, finding Shitty and Holster with their arms around each other, chuckling fondly at a fuming Dex who was stuck under Nursey’s armpit, Chowder apparently trying (to no avail) to break them apart. What he had found was a picture from a few months back, tall volleyball girl sporting an unmistakable San Jose Sharks shirt, her arm wrapped around someone Bitty assumed was her father.

“No way!!!” Chowder immediately forgot all about his constantly bickering d-men, and the boy practically ripped the phone out of Bitty’s hand, staring fondly down at the picture.

“Yeah, she’s another frog, she’s apparently really cool, and most importantly; she’s _single_ ,” Ransom added as he looked up from his own phone, and Bitty was once again astounded at the massive network that Ransom had stringed together.

Another uproar of manly grunts rose from them all again as Chowder turned pink and mumbled out a weak “stop it”, but was incapable of fighting down the grin on his face.

“Chow, just a heads up that when you’re getting married, I’m _totally_ taking credit for it,” Dex said, his hair mussed as he finally got out of Nursey’s grip, his lip still swollen where it had split earlier, and his eyes glinted with a wicked spark before Chowder caught up with him. 

“Oh, stop it!!” 

The demand was a little more forceful this time around, emphasised with a shove to Dex’s side, which nearly sent him tumbling into the river, and the little scuffle ended with all the frogs chasing each other all the way to Commons. Bitty wistfully watched them go, a feeling he had a hard time naming rising quickly in his chest.

“Ah, they grow up so fast…”

“Aww, don’t go all _sentimental_ on us now Bits!” 

Shitty roared as he pulled him into a headlock, messing his hair up as Ransom and Holster high fived each other, and Bitty couldn’t help but laugh as something warm and pleasant settled deep in his stomach.

_He had never thought he could find this kind of happiness._

* * *

Bitty had just kicked Jack out of his room when the first text came through.

**From: Sweet Baby Chowder**

> I HAVE A DATE!!!!!!!!

Smiling softly down at his phone, the goalie’s endless excitement contagious, he just waited for the obvious continuation.

**From: Sweet Baby Chowder**

> (FOR SCREW!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Opening up Twitter again, his smile grew wider as he thought about the warm sensation still huddling comfortably at the bottom of his stomach.

He felt like this was the start of something good.

**Author's Note:**

> I took some ~~a lot~~ of artistic liberties. I know Ngozi probably just intended this collision to be an introduction to Caitlin, and not actually the start of their relationship, but… This meet cute is just too good to let it pass by so quickly. I had to develop it a little bit. I couldn’t resist. 
> 
> Come talk more about Charmer with me on [tumblr!](http://stolligaseptember.tumblr.com/)


End file.
